William Saroyan house museum to apply state-of-the-art technologies

In December 2015 the "Intellectual Renaissance" Foundation acquired the house of one of the giants of world literature William Saroyan, which started a new page in the history of Fresno, Armenian community and writer’s legacy.

After the purchase the founder Arthur Janibekyan launched the "Saroyan House" project, which intended to turn the house into a house museum by 2018. In the framework of the project, the Intellectual Renaissance team found and established contact with the writer's relatives and friends. In order to develop the content of the museum, a competition was announced.

The final round was held in Yerevan, Armenia. Later on, the name of the winner was announced; the project was to be fulfilled by the Storaket architectural studio. Storaket’s offer was rich with creative and innovative solutions. Due to 3D mapping, Saroyan’s characters and the writer himself were to appear within the walls of the house museum, where the writer used to live and wrote most of his works.

Thus, Saroyan will be able to speak with the guests and show them around the museum. The interactive museum will erase all boundaries of time and space. The foundation has already acquired all the permits from the Fresno municipality. The opening of the museum is scheduled for 2018, for writer’s 110th anniversary.

The Saroyan House team has already found most of writer’s literary heritage. Some of it is held at the Stanford University collection and the rest belongs to the "Saroyan" Foundation. The foundation intends to collect Saroyan’s memorabilia and collect it in one place.

The project has an international board, which assists the project and supports the IRF team. Within the framework of the project, the Saroyan Club was established. During the monthly gatherings the members of the club come together to discuss and analyze Saroyan’s works, as well as to come up with their comments and suggestions regarding the project. The club enables discovery of new facts about William Saroyan and his history. For example, what he said during his visit to Armenia in 1976 at the premiere of the film "My Heart's in the Highlands".

The members of the club share stories about William Saroyan, his hobbies, habits, etc. In order to present the research, as well as the progress the fund has made over the last several months, the fund organized a big celebration dedicated to Saroyan’s 108th anniversary. The Foundation has organized an event, which intended to present Saroyan’s known and unknown talents to the public. The "Saroyan House" project has become an integral part of the Intellectual Renaissance team’s routine.